2027: INEC raises alarm over AI-generated fake content, warns of threat to election credibility

By Lateef Ibrahim

The Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), has warned that the rapid spread of artificial intelligence-generated disinformation could pose a serious threat to the credibility of Nigeria’s 2027 general elections.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, raised the concern in a keynote address delivered at the 13th Annual International Conference of the Association of Communication Scholars and Professionals of Nigeria, (ACSPN), in Abuja.

The address, themed “Media, Technology and Elections in Africa: Navigating Digital Disruption and the New Dynamics of Electoral Communication,” was delivered on his behalf by National Commissioner Sani Adam.

Amupitan said advances in generative AI had made it cheaper and increasingly difficult to detect manipulated videos, audio recordings and images capable of misleading voters.

He noted that doctored political content had already featured in recent electoral cycles across West and East Africa, including during Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election.

According to him, the danger goes beyond completely fabricated information, as AI-powered platforms can also be used to target narrowly defined groups of voters with conflicting political messages.

Such micro-targeting, he warned, could prevent voters from operating from a common factual basis during an election.

The INEC chairman said the commission’s credibility would increasingly depend on how well Nigerians understand and trust its electoral processes, particularly the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS, and the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV.

He acknowledged that while the technologies were introduced to improve transparency by enabling citizens to view polling-unit results, the 2023 elections demonstrated how technical shortcomings could themselves fuel public suspicion.

Amupitan said the commission was therefore undertaking a comprehensive audit of its electoral technology infrastructure, including system redundancy, penetration testing and disaster-recovery arrangements.